Means for stopping trains.



W. T. B. MoDONALD. MEANS PoR sToPPING TRAINS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 12, 1913.

Patented Jan. 13, 1914.

CQLUMBIA PLANUGRAPH co..w/SH|NOTON. D. C.

l UNiTnD sTATEs PATENT onnroa.

WILLIAM T. B. MCDCNALD, or CRANBY, QUEBEC, CANADA, AssICrNoItv To MACDONALD CAR BUFFER LIMITED, or MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, A CORPORATION.

MEANS FOR STOPPING TRAINS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 13, 1914.

Application filed September 1,2, 1913. Serial No. 789,524.

To all whom t may concern Beit known that I, WILLIAM T. B. MC- DoNALo, of Granby, in the Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada, a subject of the King of Great Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Stopping Trains; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates particularly to the buffers or bumping posts commonly used at railway terminals for preventing runaway trains or trains the speed of which is not checked in time owing to the lack of judgment, or for other reasons, from being wrecked or wrecking the station or doing other damage beyondthe established end of the line.

The object of this invention is to provide a buffer containing elastic and comparatively inelastic fluids and valvular piston means actuated by the inertia of the train being stopped to cause the resistance of the elastic fluid to first'come into effect and then the resistance of the inelastic, the valvular piston being adapted to automatically reduce the resistance oered by the inelastic fluid, and, furthermore, to automatically vary this reduction in order to impart to the buffer maximum yielding resistance before it begins to slide thus materially increasing the effectiveness of the buffer which will absorb the inertia of the moving train by converting the weight of the forward part of the train into frict-ional resistance and supplementing the frictional resistance by a resistance increasing progressively until a rigid stop is presented.

A further object of the invention is to improve the general construction of this type of buer.

This invention may be said briefly to consist ofv a buffer mounted slidably on the rails at a terminal and comprising in combi nat-ion with a member mounted. slidably upon the rails of a closed cylinder containing a piston' and adaptedl to be actuated by the inertia of the moving train and a particular structural feature-'whereby a comparatively inelastic Huid such asv oil located in one end of the cylinder is caused to be discharged therefrom to the opposite side of the piston when the latter nears the end of the cylinder; such structural feature pref* erably consisting of grooves in the bottom of the cylinder near each end thereof and disposed parallel to the axis and in order to secure a discharge approximately increasing in proportion to the compressive force exerted on the oil the grooves are made to increase in capacity toward the ends of the cylinder.

Another feature of the invention consists of the combination with a rigidly secured terminal stop, of a particular construction of a pair of elongated friction members bearing slidably on the rails and adapted to have the forward end ofV a moving train run thereon; and the invention further consists of the combination, particular arrangement and specific construction of parts hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims. j

For a full comprehension, however, of this invent-ion reference must be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification'in which similar reference characters indicate the same parts, and wherein:

Figure l is a side elevation of means for stopping trains constructed according to my invention; Fig. 2 is a detail front elevation of the buffer proper; Fig. 3 is a plan view; Fig. i is a rear elevation; Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken on line A A Fig. 3 and drawn to an enlarged scale; Fig. 6 is a detailsectional view taken on line B B Fig. 3 and drawn to an enlarged scale; Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view taken on line C C Fig. 3 and drawn to an enlarged scale; and

Fig. 8 is a detail side elevation illustrating.

the members of one of the joints separated.

A pair of rails at a terminal of a railway are indicated at b and a pair of depressed rails approximately one hundred feet long are indicated at 50. These latter have their flanges embedded in concrete c for a distance of about4 fifteen feet fromv their terminal ends, and a pair of heavy rail sections dare set vertically in the concrete in positions with rails 50 abutting against them, the top ends thereof projecting a short distance above the rails 50. A pair of elongated shoes rest slidably upon the depressed rails and consist preferably of cast steel or forged sections 51 of channel cross-section having their longitudinal middle of substantially rail-head form in cross-section, and sections 52 having their main length of irregular oblong cross-section, one end 53 being preferably of similar cross-section to the sections 51 excepting that the head portion is cut away as at 54 to form a seat for a correspondingly cut away end portion 55 of the sections 5l, such sections 5l and 52 being united through these overlapping parts by keys 56 and rivets 57. The shoes thus formed are united by a cross bar 58 bolted thereto through lugs 59 cast or forged integral with the sections 5l of the shoe and the end portions of sections 52. These shoes are preferably about sixty feet in length and straddle the rail heads with a snug slid-4 ing fit. The depressed rails are united to the rails b they abut by means of combination fish plates and auxiliary-rails 60 a proximately twelve feet long and bolted to the rails b and 50. These auxiliary rails are shaped to present fiat portions 6l and 62 adapted to lie against the webs of the normal depressed rail 50 and rail b, the portion above the flat part 6l being shaped to extend around the head of rail 50 as at 63 and upwardly to present a guiding wall 64 having a fiat side 65 engaged by the portion 52 of the shoe. There are a pair of these combination fish-plates and auxiliary rails secured to both sides of each rail. A casting comprising a main cylinder s and a pair of cylinders 13 of smaller bore (to be presently further alluded to) and a pair of heavy webs 7c with flanged feet 67 is secured rigidly through these feet to the shoes, preferably by bolts m, and the ends of the shoes are bent over the ends of the webs and secured thereto as at o.

The cylinder is hermetically sealed and contains a piston and a comparatively small quantity of oil and the opposite ends thereof are provided with vacuum and compression safety valves 2 and 3 respectively. A plunger bar 4 projects from the front of the piston through a stuffing box 5 in the front cylinder-head and has a bu'er head 6 formed or secured rigidly thereon and provided with a transverse flange 4- at its top. In order to yieldingly retain the piston and with it the bulfer normally in its extreme forward position, a pair of lugs 7 are carried by the buffer head and extend laterally therefrom, such lugs having connected thereto a pair of plungers 8 the inner ends of which have anged heads 10 upon which bear helical springs l2 located in the cylinders 13 above mentioned. This cylinder is charged with a quantity of oil equal to about one-fifth more or less of the capacity of one end and in order to charge it the piston is first located at about mid-stroke and the oil is poured into one end. Each end of the cylinder is formed with a duct extending from the ends toward the center for a distance slightly greater than the length of the piston and in order to cause the fluid from this duct to be reduced in proportion to the proximity of the piston to the cylinder end, this duct preferably consists of three grooves s', s2, and s3 extending parallel to the axis and united by a transverse groove or header s* at the cylinder end, the grooves Vbeing of different lengths. This sliding buffer, constituted by the shoes, webs, cylinder and the parts contained within and carried by the cylinder, and buffer head, is preferably located about forty feet from the rigid stops d, and the auxiliary rails are about twelve feet in length. The appliance is held semirigidly in that position by a pair of clamps 20 clamped to the rails at the terminal end of the buffer and clamps 2l clamping the shoes and forward ends of the webs to the rails; while a platform 25 extends over the stops d and the space between them and the sliding buffer. The flange la has for its function to prevent the locomotive from climbing over the buier when the coupler strikes the buffer block.

Operation: Under normal conditions the appliance is held by the clamps 20. Uien a train exceeds the point at which it should stop it will run onto the shoes, and, if its .excessive travel is sufficient but the inertia comparatively low, the train may be stopped by the resistance offered by the air compressed in the forward end of the cylinder augmented by the vacuum created in the rear end of the cylinder. If, however, the inertia is sufficiently high, the train after running onto the shoes and into contact with the buer head will drive the piston to the forward end of the cylinder and force the oil through first three grooves then two grooves s and s and finally by groove s alone as the inner ends of these grooves are uncovered by the piston and communication is effected between both sides of the latter. The passage of this oil is retarded by the progressively reducing capacity of the grooves thus offering a yielding resistance as the piston advances. Assuming that the inertia continues suiliciently high itwill start the entire appliance and the clamps 20 and 2l with itv without any perceptible shock, unt-il the friction of the shoes sliding` upon the rails while bearing the load of the locomotive and whatever portion of the train runs upon the shoes, stops the train. Under such condition the telescopic connection, which ispreferably about twelve feet in length, is extended, a drop in the level of varying Vao the `rail tread between the ends of the displaced shoes and rails Z) being prevented by the auxiliary rails G0. During this displacement of the buffer, the platform, if one is used, will give way. rllrains of approximately five hundred tons and crossing the terminal at a speed of, say, thirty miles an hour, will be stopped within twelve feet, although trains ot greater inertia may require the forty feet allowed, but heavier trains or t-rains crossing the terminal at a higher f speed may possess sufficient inertia to cause the buier to reach the rigid stops d before being arrested. The fact that the ends of the rails 5 and the vertical rails d are embedded in a solid foundation of concrete or cement prevents creeping of the rails, and thus supplements the resistance of the air compressed and vacuum created and oil located iii the buiiing cylinder and the friction of the shoes on the rails suiiiciently to absorb the inertia of and bring to a stop practically the heaviest train ruiming over the terminal at maximum speed without actually wrecking it.

The advantageous edect obtained with the use of oil is that a longer and higher resistance is provided owing to the :tact that when the piston commences to compress the air between it and the end of the cylinder it also reduces the space within which the oil is confined causing the oil to rise and compress the air thus causing compression of the air from two sides instead of one. The ducts serving to release the oil when the maximum resistance is reached afford the means for maintaining suiiicient space to accommodate the air cushion.

lVhat I claim is as follows l. A railway train stopping appliance comprising a pair of shoes supported slidably upon the rails at a railway terminal, and a buffer mounted upon the shoes in position to receive the impactl of a train running upon the shoes, such buffer containing a hermetically sealed cylinder containing a relatively small proportion of inelastic fluid, and means located at the ends of the cylinder whereby the said inelastic fluid is caused to pass from one to the other side of the piston is utilized in the absorption of the inertia of the moving train.

2. The railway train stopping appliance having a pair of webs mounted rigidly upon the shoes, a hermetically sealed cylinder rigidly secured upon the webs, a piston in the cylinder such cylinder having at its ends wall ducts of a length less than the cylinder and greater than the piston, a bar secured to the piston and projecting through one end ot' the cylinder and having a buffing head at its outer end.

3. The railway train stopping appliance having a pair of webs mounted rigidly upon the slioes, a .hermetically sealed cylinder rigidly secured upon the webs, a piston in the cylinder such cylinder having at its ends Y wall ducts of a length less than the cylinder and greater than the piston each of the said ducts consisting` of a `plurality of grooves of varying length, a bar secured to tliepiston and projecting through one end of the cylindler and having a buiiinghead at its outer enc.

4. The railway train stopping appliance having a pair of webs mounted rigidly upon the shoes, a hermetically sealed cylinder rigidly 'secured upon the webs, a piston in the cylinder such cylinder having at itsends wall ducts of a length less than the cylinder and greater than the piston each of the said ducts consisting of a plurality of grooves of varying length and a transverse groove uniting the said plurality of grooves, a bar secured to the piston and projecting through one end of the cylinder and having a buing head at its outer end.

5. A railway train stopping appliance comprising in combination with normal rails, and depressed rails, of a pair of shoes resting slidably upon the depressed rail-portions and a buffer mounted rigidly upon the shoes.

6. A railway train stopping appliance comprising in combination with normal rails and depressed rails, of aI pair of shoes resting slidably upon the depressed rail-portions and approximately equal in thickness to the depth of the depression and a buffer mounted rigidly upon the holes.

7. A railway train stopping `appliance comprising in combination with normal rails and depressed rails, of a pair of shoes resting slidably upon the depressed rail-portion such shoes being of channel cross-section and a buffer mounted rigidly upon the shoes.

8. A railway train stopping appliance comprising in combination with normal rails and depressed rails, of a pair of shoes resting slidably upon the depressed rail-portion such shoes being of channel cross-seo tion with projecting port-ions lying slidably upon the tops of the depressed rail heads; combination {ish-plates and auxiliary rails secured to the normal and depressed rails and overlapping the slidable shoe projections and ya butter mounted rigidly upon the shoes.

9. A railway train stopping appliance comprising in combination with railway rails, of a pair of elongatedshoes resting slidably upon the rails and carrying a buier consisting of a main closed cylinder and a pair of cylinders at the sides thereof, a piston in the main cylinder, a bar secured at one end to the piston and projecting through one closed end of the main cylinder, abuing head upon the outer end of the bar and having a pair of laterally extending lugs, rods In testimony whereof I have signed my secured at their outer ends to t e lugs and name to this specification in the pre-sence of proj eating into the said ypair of side cylinders, tWo Witnesses.

and springs Within the said last mentioned WILLIAM T. B. MCDONALD. cylinders and resisting the movement of the Vitnesses: v rods thereinto for the purpose of returning E. R. PITTs,

the buiing head to normal position. VILLIAM J. C. HEWETSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Gommissonenof Patents, Washington, D. C. 

